{"id":107144,"date":"2026-08-20T04:36:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T04:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/107144\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T04:36:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T04:36:08","slug":"north-sea-drilling-tests-uk-govt-climate-pledge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/107144\/","title":{"rendered":"North Sea drilling tests UK govt climate pledge"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a> Labour pledged before coming to power in 2024 that it would not approve any new drilling licences in the North Sea (ANDY BUCHANAN) <\/p>\n

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham must decide in the coming weeks whether to authorise two North Sea drilling projects, an issue which has divided his own Labour Party.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

The decision after a consultation period ended Monday pits Labour’s climate ambitions against pressure to boost domestic energy supplies and ease surging household bills. <\/p>\n

– What are the projects? – <\/p>\n

Jackdaw is a gas field situated east of the port of Aberdeen, and Rosebank, a field that mainly contains oil, lies west of the Shetland Islands. <\/p>\n

Drilling at both sites was approved by the previous Conservative government in 2022 and 2023, before two environmental groups launched a legal challenge to block them. <\/p>\n

A Scottish court ruled last year that the approvals failed to consider the carbon emissions the projects would indirectly generate, meaning both must reapply. <\/p>\n

Adura, a joint venture formed by the merger of UK offshore operations of Britain’s Shell and Norway’s Equinor, is the sole owner of Jackdaw and majority owner of Rosebank. <\/p>\n

Jackdaw already has infrastructure in place, while Rosebank needs more time before it can become operational.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

“For Jackdaw, all the infrastructure is there, the wells are drilled, it’s ready to turn on and it could be turned on\u00a0in a matter of months,” said Matt Cooper, senior vice president at energy consultancy Rystad Energy. <\/p>\n

If it gets the go-ahead, Jackdaw would be ready in “perfect time for the winter season when you need more gas,” he added. <\/p>\n

– Why is it political? – <\/p>\n

Labour pledged before coming to power in 2024 that it would not approve any new drilling licences in the North Sea. <\/p>\n

But since becoming prime minister a month ago, Burnham has said Britain “can’t ignore” its oil and gas reserves. <\/p>\n

Within Labour, some support drilling for “security of supply and affordability”, while others point to the jobs it can secure, said Jill Rutter, senior fellow at the Institute for Government. <\/p>\n

For others in the party, “the most important thing is the commitment to net zero,” she added. <\/p>\n

Pressure from the opposition Conservatives and from US President Donald Trump to open up new drilling has also kept the issue in the spotlight.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

– Will it bring down energy prices? – <\/p>\n

For Britons, the real question is whether new drilling would help lower household energy bills, which have climbed since the outbreak of Ukraine and the Middle East wars. <\/p>\n

“If you\u00a0increase UK gas\u00a0supply, all things being equal, it\u00a0should reduce price,” Cooper said. <\/p>\n

But in practice, the impact could be limited. <\/p>\n

UK energy prices are heavily influenced by international markets, leaving gas prices exposed to external shocks even if domestic production increases. <\/p>\n

Gas from Jackdaw will feed into the grid and reduce some liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports, potentially improving the country’s energy self-sufficiency, said James Reid, an analyst at Wood Mackenzie. <\/p>\n

However, the expected volumes remain modest at market scale. <\/p>\n

The impact on electricity bills would also be limited. <\/p>\n

In the UK, electricity prices are often set by the high cost of gas-fired power plants, which are the last to be called on to meet demand. <\/p>\n

Consumers would therefore only see a price difference if domestically produced gas replaced more expensive imports. <\/p>\n

For the projects to meaningfully lower bills or boost investment in clean energy, the government would have to introduce specific mechanisms to redistribute some of the revenues generated, Rutter explained. <\/p>\n

– What are the environmental consequences? – <\/p>\n

If British oil and gas consumption remains the same, developing these two new fields would have little effect on overall emissions. <\/p>\n

At the extraction and transport stage, replacing some LNG imports with gas from Jackdaw could even be less emissions-intensive because “the liquefaction, the shipping, the re-gasification, getting it into the grid, is more emission intensive than production in the UK North Sea,” said Reid. <\/p>\n

Environmental advocates counter that additional fossil fuel production can encourage more consumption and delay the energy transition. <\/p>\n

Under UK law, greenhouse gas emissions indirectly generated by a business — known as Scope 3 or downstream emissions — must be taken into account. <\/p>\n

The projects must therefore resubmit their environmental impact assessments for approval. <\/p>\n

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